Sanford Bennet was born in Eden, New York, the son of Robert and Sally (Kent) Bennet. The family moved to Lake County, Illinois, when the boy was six years old, living first in Plainfield, and three years later moving to a farm near Lake Zurich. His family was distinguished by more than ordinary ability. Two brothers became physicians and the father served as assessor, town trustee, school director, and for eight years as a justice of the peace.
Young Bennet, who had been attending district school, was sent to the Academy at Waukegan, Illinois, at sixteen, and in two years was teaching school at Wauconda. He entered the University of Michigan in 1858 but left before graduation to take charge of the public schools at Richmond, Illinois. Later he received a degree from Rush Medical College in Chicago.
After graduation Sanford moved to Elkhorn, Wisconsin, where he became joint owner and editor with Frank Leland of the Elkhorn Independent. But toward the end of the Civil War he sold his interest to serve a three months' term as second lieutenant in the 40th Regiment of Infantry, Wisconsin Volunteers from May 25 to September 16, 1864. Returning to Elkhorn, he opened a drugstore and took up the study of medicine. It was during this period that the verses which he had been writing in a desultory fashion most of his life began to acquire a vogue. Most of them were set to music, and "The Sweet By and By, " his most popular hymn, for which J. P. Webster wrote the music, has been translated into many languages, including Chinese.
In 1871, with Webster, who was a gifted musician, Bennet published The Signet Ring, an anthology of hymns, of which the 100 or more from his own pen formed a substantial portion. At thirty-eight he received a degree from Rush Medical College in Chicago and moved to Richmond, Illinois, where he established a flourishing practise. He was a frequent contributor to the Richmond Gazette, and for a time was one of its editors and publishers. In the year of his death he published The Pioneer, an Idyll of the Middle West, which tells of frontier experiences during the thirties and forties, especially in Lake and McHenry counties, Illinois. Bennet died in Richmond in 1898.
Sanford Bennet was a well-known physician of his time, but he achieved greater success as a songwriter. Bennet is the author of a popular hymn "The Sweet By and By, " which was translated in many languages. He published The Signet Ring and The Pioneer, an Idyll of the Middle W. He also was a cofounder and editor of the Elkhorn Independent.
Sanford Bennet was married to Gertrude Crosby Johonnatt.
